BASED on the evidence supplied in the letter from your correspondent R Hocking (Barry & District News, February 6) clearly the beach at Barry Island 'has gone to the dogs' thanks, so it would seem, not only to the dog owners but to all of the other irresponsible visitors who foul up this first class natural amenity the care of which is heavily subsidised by all the council tax payers in the Vale of Glamorgan the vast majority of whom are responsible and caring citizens.

In the same issue the B & D carried several reports of drug use offenders, motoring offences, car break-ins and assaults.

For this we have to thank our police in their crack down on crime.

If, however, it is the case that this high level of serious crime is preventing the authorities from controlling irresponsible dog owners then the answer must be that they are banned from our beaches and the other places of recreation used by the law abiding citizens of the Vale.

I hope that the authorities will take heed of the information provided by Mr Hocking and place large signs to warn unsuspecting visitors of the health hazards to be encountered on the Island beach. Such action is obviously most urgently required.

R B Douglas Park Road Barry